GSC Game World and Xbox have teamed up to release a co-produced documentary named War Game: The Making of STALKER 2. It isn’t long until the release of Stalker 2: Heart of Chornobyl, and this 90-minute long documentary explains the development journey and the trials and tribulations the team has gone through. As the team is based in Ukraine, they have had to work through the most concerning conditions, as their country is caught in a devastating conflict with Russia, with their game being a focus on an entirely different post-apocalyptic world to the one they’re living in.
The feature-length documentary provides those interested with an in-depth look at the emotional and harrowing journey GSC Game World has been through. They are a Ukrainian video game developer with nearly 500 employees, and they speak about the challenges they’ve faced as they have worked on developing the highly anticipated sequel to their first shooter, STALKER. STALKER was originally released in 2007, and it’s only now that the game is getting a full sequel. When development first started, it was an ambitious project for the team to work on, which then transformed into a personal and historical endeavor, with the game being created under horrifying circumstances.
This documentary was created in partnership with Xbox and was directed by Andrew Stephan, who also created Power On: The Story of Xbox. This documentary provides insight as to what it is like for those who are living in a war-torn country and are trying to carry on as ‘normal.’ The documentary tackles the themes of trying to capture the essence of Chornobyl, Ukraine, and cultural independence, all the while the team is developing a game in a world that is falling to rubble around them and how they overcome loss at the time.
“This film isn’t just about the hardest game development of all time. It’s about resilience and the unyielding human spirit in the face of unimaginable challenges. It’s about the importance of creation in a time of destruction… a defiant act of making something meaningful in the face of adversity,” says Andrew Stephan.
“I wish the war never happened. I wish all of this never happened. But it did. And we’re grateful for the opportunity to share all of this with the world, because the world should know. This is us. This is our story,” says Mariia Grygorovych, Creative Director of STALKER 2.
STALKER 2: Heart of Chornobyl is set to release on 20 November, 2024.
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